The Pittsburgh Steelers don’t appear to have given up on the idea of Kenny Pickett becoming a franchise quarterback. But CBS Sports’ Tom Fornelli apparently doesn’t buy that.

In a NFL mock draft on February 23, Fornelli predicted the Steelers to select Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy.

To land McCarthy, Fornelli proposed the Steelers trading up to No. 9 in the 2024 NFL draft.

“The Steelers realize Kenny Pickett isn’t the answer and don’t waste time trying to correct the situation,” Fornelli wrote. “Arthur Smith is likely to bring a run-heavy offense that relies on play action and tight ends, and that sounds a lot like the offense McCarthy ran at Michigan!

“McCarthy has a strong arm, diagnoses defenses quickly, and is a good enough athlete to regularly extend drives with his legs. He’d be a good fit here.”

In three seasons at Michigan, McCarthy posted a 67.6% completion percentage and averaged 8.7 yards per pass attempt. He also had 49 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.

As a starter in his college career, he registered a 28-1 record. Last season, McCarthy led the Wolverines to their first national championship since 1997.

During the 2023-24 college football playoffs, McCarthy completed 27 of 45 passes (60%) for 361 yards with 3 touchdowns and zero interceptions.

How J.J. McCarthy Could Fit With the Steelers

McCarthy is an interesting quarterback prospect for a couple reasons.

Obviously, he had a dazzling win-loss record in college. However, that was mostly due to McCarthy playing within a system that featured a terrific running game and top defense.

“McCarthy certainly wasn’t the driving force for the national champion Wolverines,” The Athletic’s Ted Nguyen wrote. “The question is whether they elected to continually hand the ball off at the expense of limiting their capability to create explosive plays because they didn’t trust McCarthy or whether it was because they didn’t trust their offensive line’s ability to pass protect.

“The Wolverines had a physical run-blocking offensive line but they struggled to pass protect at times, especially against top competition.”

The past few weeks, though, McCarthy appears to be gaining more notoriety for his individual skills.

NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah projected McCarthy to go at No. 8 in his second mock draft released on February 20. Then on February 23, The Chicago Tribune’s Brad Biggs predicted McCarthy to land at No. 6.

At the end of January, McCarthy was connected to the Steelers in a mock draft from NBC Sports Boston’s Phil Perry but at No. 20 overall.

McCarthy’s stock appears to be rising. There’s still about two months until the draft, but if the Steelers are interested, it appears unlikely that McCarthy will be available for them at No. 20.

Steelers Giving Up on QB Kenny Pickett?

For the Steelers, though, the question isn’t necessarily whether they are interested in McCarthy. It’s whether they are prepared to move on from Pickett.

NFL pundits have connected the Steelers to numerous quarterbacks set to be available in free agency and the draft. The team acquiring Justin Fields in a trade has also been a very popular rumor this offseason.

But publicly, the Steelers have supported Pickett as their potential starter in 2024.

During his post-season press conference on January 18, Tomlin told reporters Pittsburgh’s 2024 starting quarterback was already on the roster.

Since the release of Mitch Trubisky on February 12, the Steelers have no other signal callers on their roster other than Pickett.

Then on February 17, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac reported that the Steelers are “not interested” in bringing in a new starting quarterback.

That doesn’t mean the Steelers won’t draft a quarterback. Tomlin did stress during his post-season press conference that the team wants to bring in competition for Pickett.

There are also interesting late-round quarterbacks options such as Spencer Rattler, Sam Hartman and others.

But it probably doesn’t make sense for the Steelers to target a signal caller in the first round, especially trade up for one, unless they change their minds about Pickett.

In all likelihood, the Steelers will find competition for Pickett by either re-signing Mason Rudolph or another veteran in free agency.